Gavin Cromwell enjoys another successful trip to Britain after Earls lands feature £50,000 handicap

Gavin Cromwell’s excellent strike-rate over jumps in Britain did not go unnoticed this season but he enjoyed similar success on his Flat visits and he struck with Earls in the feature £50,000 7f handicap.

Cromwell, who had a 23 per cent strike-rate over jumps in Britain this season, saddled three winners from eight Flat runners in Britain in 2023 and Earls made it 1-1 for this year.

The Martin Sheridan-owned seven-year-old arrived on the back of a nose second at the Curragh this month and stayed on best to score by a length and a quarter under Franny Norton.

Norton said on Racing TV: “Gavin does unbelievably well. I’ve only had a handful of rides for him but they’ve all run well and this was the first winner. It worked out nicely for Earls. They went quick early on and came back to the field. All the openings were there for him and it was pretty straightforward.”

Name to note

Bright Thunder was an impressive debut winner for Karl Burke in the mile fillies’ novice.

The 270,000gns Book 2 buy stretched clear for a five-length success under Shane Gray to seal a double on the card for the trainer and jockey.

Burke landed the 7f handicap with the Pierre-Louis Jamin-ridden Princess Alex, while Gray won on the Sam England-trained Trilby in the 6f handicap.

Jamin, who was suspended for five days for careless riding aboard Princess Alex, enjoyed a second winner when making all on Tom Dascombe’s Nellie Leylax in the mile handicap.

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